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New California law limits single-use plastic straws in restaurants

California has become the first state to ban full-service restaurants from automatically providing single-use plastic straws.

Signed by Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday, AB 1884 takes effect next year. Diners will now have to request a plastic straw under the law.

The law doesn't outright ban plastic straws, as some cities have already done.

Under the law, restaurants that do not comply with get two warnings, before being fined up to $300 a year for violating the law. This only applies to full-service restaurants, not fast food restaurants.

"It is a very small step to make a customer who wants a plastic straw ask for it," Gov. Brown wrote in a memo
after the bill's passage. "And it might make them pause and think against about an alternative. But one thing is clear, we must find ways to reduce and eventually eliminate single-use plastic products."

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